Portable drier



Nov. 27, 1934. c. v. HALLENBECK I 5 93225 PORTABLE DRIER Filed Nov. 17,1932 '3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

A TTORNEY.

N 1934- c. v. HALLENBECK PORTABLE DRIER Filed Nov. 17-, 1932 5Sheets-Sheet 2 I NVEN TOR. Char/e5 l/MW/wwec A TTORNE Y.

N v- 79 1934- C. v. HALLENBECK PORTABLE DRIER Filed Nov. 17, 1932Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. Char/e5 l/fl f/rzecl ATTORNEY.

Patented Nov. 27, 1934 PORTABLE DRIER CharlesV. Ha llenbeck, Denver,Colo; Application November l'l', 1932, SerialNo. 643,107

This invention relates to driers such as aroused for drying sand,gravel; or anything'of a like nature and particularly driers which havea rotatable drum through which the material tobe dried travels while thedrying is being performed.

The general object of this invention is to provide a drier in thefOIll'lOf a small unit that can be readily transported, which driershall have a large efliciency, large capacity and secure extreme heatfor drying tlie materi'al.

Another object of the present'invention isto' provide such a drier witha centrally disposed oil burner atthe discharge end of the drierdis=--charging flame and heat in a. directioncounter to the movement of'themateri'albeing dried, the oil burner being so constructed" that a flamewill be discharged through nearly the entire length of the drier with an'equal'distribution of heat against thewalls of the drier.

A still further object isto-provide adrier so constructed'that acentraljetof unignited gas will bedischarged from the burner into anauxiliary combustion chamber having outlets at intervalsand-having-bafiies tending to break the jet up,

" the burner being itself surroundedby'acombustion chamber, thuspermitting thefront section of the drum to be completely envelopedin-fiame; the rearcombustion chamber-causing flames tob'e dischargedwhich will fully heat therear section of the drum.

Other objects have'to do with the means' for' driving the drum andsupporting: itforrotary movement.

My invention is illustrated in the accompany ing-drawings, wherein:-

Figure 1 is alongitudinal section throughthe' axial center of the drier;

Figure 2 is a transverse section on theline 2--2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an elevation of the discharge end of the drier;

Figure 4 is an end elevation of the oil burner nozzle;

Figure 5 is a longitudinal section thereof.

Referring now particularlyto Figures 1 and 2', designates the base ofany suitable supporting frame. Upon this base, the supporting frame workHis disposed;

Carried upon this base, as will be later stated; are a pluralityof'rollers 12, these rollers being supported on cross pieces 13. Thedrum 14 extends nearly the full length of the-framework 11 and of thebase and carries upon-itsexterior the tires '15 whichmay be of anysuitable material The drum also carries uponits exterior the.

peripheral gear ring 18' whereby the drum may be rotated as will belater explained. Surrounding the rear end of the drum is a dust chamber19 which is, of course, fixed and within which the drum rotates. Thisdust chamber is formed to provide the discharge hopper 20 below the rearend of the drum and the chamber is connected by trunks 21 to a fancasing 22 from which a stack 23 extends. Within this fan casing aredisposed the fans 24 mounted upon the shafts 25. Between the trunk 21and the upper portion ofjthe dust chamber 19 there are disposed themanuallycontrollable valves 26, there'being' handles 27 whereby-thesevalves may be manipulated. Preferablm. there are two of these valves 26,each hinged at its lower end and at-its upper" edge contacting with thestop 28. By operating these dampe'rsor valves control may be secured ofthe withdrawal of dust by the fans 24.

When the dampers are entirely closed, no dust will-be drawn upthroughthe stack 23 and, of course, when the dampers are fully opened;all of the dust w'ill be taken'out through the stack 23.

The'hopper 20 is provided with a removable closureor gate 28: at itslower end through which dust maybe withdrawn from the hopper 20. Therear end'of the drum 14' is convergently'inclmed as at 29, theseconvergent wallsdefining an open ing 305 Disposed rearward of thisopening 30 and extendingdownward-through the rear endof the-dust chamber19 is a feed hopper 31 which opens into the rear end of the drum. Thefeed of material through this hopper'is regulated by means of a therotatable, bladed element 32 which not only'seals the inlet passage butacts to control the feed of material, this sealing element 32 beingrotated by the discharge of material into the hopper.

At the forward or discharge end of the drum, there is disposed thecircular refractory casing 33 which constitutes a main combustionchamber or fire boxwhich is supported-in position upon the frame 11 andentersthe open forward end'oif" the drum and is disposed concentricallythereto. Extending into this primary combustion chamber or fire box 33and supported at the center thereof is the fuel pipe 34; the forward endof which is provided with the nozzle 35 shown in detail in. Figures 4and 5. This nozzle is hemispherical in form and provided with thecentral discharge and extending from the rear end of the drum toward theburner. This tubular combustion chamber is open at its opposite ends butat its rear end is provided with the conical baffle 39 shown in detailin Fig. l.

The rear end of the combustion chamber 38 is flared at 40 and thus theconical baffle causes the products of combustion to be dischargeddivergently outward from the rear end of the combustion chamber. Atintervals, the combustion chamber is provided with staggered outletopenings 41, the wall of the combustion chamber being outwardlydeflected over those openings as at 42 and there being a bafile element43 disposed inward of these openings and extending in the direction ofthe incoming jet, the wall 42 extending outward and rearward so that theheat and flame from the combustion chamber are directed outward andrearward counter to the direction of movement of the sand, gravel orother material being dried. The baffles 43 extend downward and forwardtoward the incoming jet for a purpose to be later stated. These outlets41 are disposed at intervals along the entire length of the combustionchamber and are radially staggered with relation to each other so as tosecure a uniform discharge of heat outward toward the walls of the drum.The slots 3'7 also discharge flames outward and rearward against thewalls of the combustion chamber 33 but these flames are not projectedwith the force of the central blast.

The rear flared end of the combustion chamber carries a spider it uponwhich is mounted a plurality of rearwardly extending spirally disposedagitator blades 45, these blades extending into the feed hopper andacting to agitate material therein and prevent its clogging and alsoacting to feed the material forward as shown in Figure 1 into the drum.Also carried by the rear end of the combustion chamber are the inclinedor curved blades 46 which act to stir the material at the rear end ofthe drier shell and convey it forward into the zone of action of thelongitudinally extending stirring angle irons 47 shown in section inFigure 2 which are attached. to the drum, extend radially inwardtherefrom and run the entire length of the drum.

Disposed between these angle irons are inclined inwardly extendingplates or blades 47a which also act to stir up the material and feed itforward. Thus it will be seen that as the drum is rotated, the materialwill be fed little by little into the drum, carried around by the drum,submitted to the action of the heat discharged from the combustionchamber and from the openings 87 in the nozzle and gradually carriedforward until it is discharged at the open forward end of the drum. Herethe material is discharged downward into the elevator housing 48 fromwhich it is carried by an endless bucket elevator 49 operating over theusual wheel 50 as illustrated in Figure 3. The material is guided intothe housing 48 by the hopper 65.

The mechanism is driven in any suitable manner, but I have shown forthis purpose a shaft 51 having a pulley 52 mounted thereon whereby powermay be transmitted to the shaft. This shaft is operatively connected byany suitable means to the reducing gearing of any well-known characterdisposed at the middle of the drum and generally shown in Figure 1. Thisreducing gearing may include a shaft 53 carrying upon it a sprocketwheel 54 over which a sprocket chain 55 passes, this chain passingaround an idler 56 and then extending around the drum and engaging thesprocket ring or gear ring 18 in an obvious manner. The fans 24 aredriven as shown in Figure 3 by sprocket chains or belts 5'7 and 58. Thechain or belt 57 passes around a pulley or sprocket wheel 59 mounted onone shaft 25 and is crossed and passes over a pulley or sprocket wheel60 mounted upon the other shaft 25. This last named shaft carries apulley 61 over which the crossed belt 58 passes, this cross belt passingover a pulley 63 mounted on a shaft 64, which shaft is driven throughthe reducing gear A by any suitable gearing from the shaft 53. Thecrossed belt 58 passes over an idler pulley 66.

The drum is held from longitudinal movement with reference to the frameby means of the wheels 67 mounted upon the frame and engaging againstthe side faces of the tires 15. At the junction of the walls of the dustbox and fan casing with the rotating drum, I have provided suitablesealing means indicated in Fig. 1 wherein 68 designates a wall of thedust box and 69 an angle iron attached to the wall of the drum andextending in the same direction as the wall 68. Any suitable packing maybe disposed between the wall 68 and the flange or wall 69 and thus thedrum may rotate within the dust box and yet all passage of dust from thedust box be prevented and the inlet of air to the dust box prevented.

- The operation of the drier will be obvious from what has gone before.The material is fed into the hopper by any suitable means, causing thevalve or gate seal 32 to partially rotate enough to let the materialpass into the hopper below where it is slightly stirred by the screwconstituted by the blades 45 before entering the drier drum. On enteringthe drier drum, the material is picked up by the blades 46 and advanceduntil the longitudinal angle irons or stirrers 47 engage it and carry itupwardly to the top of the drier shell and then dropped. During thisoperation, it is subjected to the heat of the flames or products ofcombustion issuing from the nozzles or discharge openings of thecombustion chamber 38.

The material is also being constantly advanced by the diagonallypositioned blades 47a and eventually the material is'discharged from theforward end of the drum into the'elevator. The capacity of the drier maybe regulated by inclining it from the feed end, permitting it to bereadily discharged into the elevator. However, the material may beslowly advanced by means of the inclined plates 47a independently of anyinclination of the drier drum. The fuel in the oil burner is underpressure sufficient to project a central jet for a considerable distanceinto the drier and into the combustion chamber 38 from which the heat isdiverted in all directions against the shell or drum. The fumes from thedrier caused by combustion and by vapors discharged from the dryingmaterial are carried off mostly by the fans 24 and the stack 23. Thedust settles in the hopper 20 and is taken out as desired. This dust maybe discharged directly into a car or taken away on a belt conveyor notshown. The exhausting means comprising the fans 24 with the dampers 26may be so regulated as to take away surplus dust ahead of the dryingaction of the hot air from the burner. The fire tube or oombus- 1 tionchamber 38 and the combustion chamber 33 with the nozzle 35 are theimportant features of my invention. The central opening of the nozzleallows a heavy stream of oil to be projected into the combustionchamber, but this oil is not ignited or burned until it reaches thecombustion: olia'm 581 It is to be particularly notedthat the pipe-BQhas-a nozzle thereon whicli is so perft )rated-"that a stream or jet oflfuel is #thrown axially through the center of the drum and-intotheauxilia'ry com bustion chamber or tube 38 and that' a spray from theradial slots ill'the' nozzle is sprayed against the walls ofthestationary combustion chamber 33. This spray ignites in=thestationary combustion chamber 33 and the flame extends rearward throughthe drier drum as far as the auxiliary combustion chamber 383 The?central stream or jet'of fuei upon entering the'auxiliarycombustionchamber 38' is broken up" by the pointed ends-of the baffles 43 causinga live flame to continue for the full length of'tlie drum, that is,for'the full length of the combustionchamber 3 8. This constructioncauses combustiontolocour immediately in the lateral or radial: spraysoffuel but retards'the combustion of the cen tral'stream of fueluntilsuch time 'as the said -cen'-- tral stream preheated by the heat in thefor-ward portion of the drum-is broken up by'the baflies 43= 2 andbecomes ignited by coming incontact with the forward'end of the metaltube 38 or auxiliarycombustion chamber, which forward end' hasb'eicome'highly heated by the heat of "the flames discharged from the maincombustion chamber' into the. drum. By this method.of 'heatingi'thedrum, I obtain practically the same result as. would be obtained byplacing 'onespray n'ozzle in the first fire 'box 33 and another spraynozzle-in: the center of the'drum -were such axthingiposi sible but afeed pipe-for a second spray nozzle."

in the centerofthe drum could'not be run through the drying drum as theextreme heat developed would explode the fuel within the pipe.

It will be seen, therefore, that the basic feature of my invention isproviding means by which fuel passes to the middle portion of the drumand is there broken up and ignited in an auxiliary combustion chamber.Thus both ends of the drier drum are enveloped in live flame givingextreme heat which greatly increases the efliciency of the apparatus.The stationary non-revolving combustion chamber 33 has an extensionwhich keeps sand from falling into this stationary combustion chamberand forming a glass on the walls thereof.

It will be noted that the auxiliary combustion chamber 38 is setrearwardly in spaced relation to the main combustion chamber and doesnot interfere at all with the free and full ignition of the sprayportion of the fuel, that is, that portion which is discharged from theradial apertures in the nozzle. These forward flames proceeding from thefire box 33 envelope the rear portion of the drum while the flamesprojected from the openings 42 cause the rear portion of the drum to beenveloped in flames.

It will be understood that the fuel projected from the pipe 34 and fromthe radial jets does not ignite until the fuel is sufficiently broken upto allow a suificient amount of oxygen to mix with it. Therefore, thefuel must come into direct contact with some object before ignition cantake place. Combustion chamber 33 is lined with fire brick which soonbecomes of a white heat. The jets projected from the radial slots in theburner come in contact with'this fire brick, are broken up and ignitedand, as there is a very strong draft of air entering the flre box end ofthe drum and traveling through the drum toward the other end thereof,the fire and flame fill the drum back for a distanoeotrsometsix oreight: feet, at? whichitime the fuel is burned: The center streamv orjet I of: atomized' fuel; andi ste'ami. does'not come in cone tact withanyiob ject'untilit enters thefire tube atI-which timeg'tliexpoints: ofthe baffles 43 begi'xribrealiingitheifueliup'. These. points or bafafiesiseombecomei white :hot and: break up and .ig nite:- the? fuelit:passes through the fire tube 38L; whicl'n in turn sends; live flame.outwardly through:theilouvres -il; thus filling the rear end ohtli'edmnr'withdive'flame.' The live flame from the fire box 33 does notignite the; center stream or jetl oir fuellbecauselther central streamat this pointdsrn'oti broken upand is, therefore, not'mixedwith").oxygen; andi because it' is traveling at such ahighrspeedi.thatitidoesnot have time to-"get hotJa'nd breakxup'a from. its internal combustion;The dire-'2 tube 'BBimust: be made: of: an: extremely.highrheat-resisting. material: In actual practice, the materialusedisone which willstand a heat oh'1'800? E: i i

' In: starting: a fireyzwhen the drier is cold, a large block of;WOOdlOX coal isplacedlln the combustionrchamberflii along with oilsaturated waste.- This isusedtorignite thefue-l from the slotted-jetsunti'lisuchztimeizas the brick lining'becomes hot enough lto ignitez thefuel. The firemust continue to'lburniuntihthexfirst pointor baille inthe fire tubebecomes: sufficiently hot to'break up andignite-thetfuelafrom the central stream. The bafflesithen become hot'oneafter the other until all points orbailies in the fire tube are igniting'the fuell. In: actual practice, it takesa' matter Oi'LEbOI'LtfiVGminutes to :bring the complete drum torfuli iheat: andisecure-completecombustion:

The: supporting-frame may be conveniently mounted upon a truck so as toprovide a portable drier if desired.

While I have illustrated certain details of construction andarrangementsof parts, it is to be understood that many minor modifications might bemade in the details of construction without departing from the spirit ofthe invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:-

1. A drier of the character described including a drum open at itsopposite ends, means for feeding material into one end of said drum asit is rotated, means for causing the material to feed along the drum asthe drum is rotated to discharge material at the other end of the drum,a.

nozzle discharging a heating jet of combustible material axially throughthe central portion of the drum, the nozzle being located at one end ofthe drum, and a tubular combustion chamber extending'axially of the drumand spaced from the nozzle and into which said jet is discharged andignited.

2. A drier of the character described, including a drum open at itsopposite ends, means for feeding material into one end of said drum asit is rotated, means for causing the material to feed along the drum asthe drum is rotated to discharge material at the other end of the drum,a nozzle discharging a jet of combustible fluid axially through thedrum, and a tubular combustion chamber spaced from the nozzle andextending axially of the drum into which said jet is discharged, thecombustion chamber having discharge outlets at intervals along itslength and disposed in a plurality of radially directed positions.

3. A drier of the character described including a drum open at itsopposite ends, means for feeding material into one end of said drum andcausits ing the material to feed along the drum to discharge material atthe other end of the drum, a nozzle discharging jets of ignitedcombustible fluid toward the adjacent wall of the drum and discharging aheating jet axially through the central portion of the drum, the nozzlebeing 10- cated at one end, and a tubular combustion chamber extendingaxially of the drum'into which said central jet is discharged, thecombustion chamber having a plurality of outlet openings, the outerwalls of which extend outward and rearward toward the inlet end of thedrum. i

4. A drier of the character described, comprising a supporting frame, adrum rotatably mounted upon the frame, the drum being open at itsopposite ends, means for feeding material into the drum at one endthereof, means for causing the material to move along the drum towardthe other end thereof as the drum is rotated, a burner nozzle extendinginto the forward end of the drum and discharging toward the feed endthereof, the burner nozzle having a central opening and a plurality ofradially disposed slots, the noz-' zle being hemispherical whereby todischarge a central jet from the nozzle, and rearwardly and outwardlyextending jets, a combustion chamber supported axially within the drumand into which the central jet is discharged, the combustion chamberhaving rearwardly directed openings, the rear end of the combustionchamber being flared and having a cone disposed therein.

5. A drier of the character described, including a rotatably supporteddrum, means for rotating the drum, the drum having an opening at itsrear end, the walls of the opening being inwardly and rearwardlydirected, a feed hopper extending into the opening in the rear end ofthe drum, a burner extending axially into the opposite end of the drumand having a discharge nozzle formed with a central opening, acombustion chamber extending from the rear end of the drum toward thenozzle but having its forward end spaced from the nozzle, the jetdischarged from the nozzle being discharged into said combustionchamber, the combustion chamber having a plurality of rearwardly andoutwardly extending discharge openings,- the rear end of the combustionchamber being flared and having a cone therein, and feeding meanslocated at the rear end of the combustion chamber rearward of the cone.

6. A, drier of the character described, including a drum, means forfeeding material into one end of saiddrum and causing'the material tofeed along the drum to the discharge end thereof, a centrally disposedcombustion chamber located at one end of the drum and opening toward themiddle of the drum, a nozzle within the combustion chamber dischargingjets of combustible fluid against the walls of the drum and. discharginga central jet axially through the central portion of the drum, and atubular combustion chamber spaced from the first named combustionchamber and extending axially of the drum into which said central jet isdischarged, the combustion chamber having a plurality of outletopenings, the outer walls of which extend outward and rearward away fromthe first named combustion chamber, there being bafiles carried by saidcombustion chamber extending inward thereof and toward the first namedcombustion chamber.

' CHARLES V. HALLENBECK.

